Watch: Swedish Trailer For Lasse Hallström’s Thriller ‘The Hypnotist’

Watch: Swedish Trailer For Lasse Hallström's Thriller 'The Hypnotist'

Well, here’s something we haven’t really seen before from Lasse Hallström. The director, who has mostly been coasting on edgeless, forgettable, feel good fare for the past decade or longer (“Dear John,” “Salmon Fishing In Yemen,” “Hachi: A Dog’s Tale,” “The Hoax” etc.) has shifted gears considerably, getting behind the camera for the thriller “The Hypnotist,” his first Swedish language film in 24 years.

Starring Mikael Persbrandt (“In A Better World,” “The Hobbit“) and Lena Olin (“The Unbearable Lightness Of Being,” “Chocolat“), the film is an adaptation of Lars Kepler‘s novel of the same name. The first in a trilogy — the books are the second most successful crime series in Sweden following Stieg Larsson‘s ‘Dragon Tattoo‘ novels — the story follows Detective Joona Linna, who in this installment, investigates a grisly triple homicide where the only survivor, a young boy, is too traumatized to testify. In order to get to the bottom of the case, Linna has a famous psychologist hypnotize the boy, setting off a terrifying chain of events.

The Swedish trailer for the film has arrived and everything here from the tone and visual feel is so alien to anything Hallström has done, well, ever that we’re still wrapping our heads around the fact that he’s behind this. That said, it does look promising, and having Persbrandt and Olin in the lead roles is definitely putting the best foot forward for this would be franchise. And while Hallström has already said he won’t be returning for the followup, we’re interested to see what he has set up for the next filmmaker to take on.

“The Hypnotist” doesn’t have a stateside distributor or date just yet, but opens in Sweden on September 28th. Maybe it will pop up on the fall festival circuit? We’ll see. Watch below. [via Twitch]

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